William Kentridge has won the ‘Present’ category of the Dan David Prize for his work in plastic arts. Each year the Dan David Prize, a joint award set up by the Dan David Foundation and based at Tel Aviv University, gives out a ‘Past’, ‘Present’ and ‘Future’ prize for innovative and interdisciplinary research that cuts across traditional boundaries and paradigms.
Kentridge was awarded the $1 million prize at a ceremony on 11 June at the Tel Aviv University for his “renowned, socially conscious, and extremely diversified works of art.” The winners donate 10% of the prize money towards 20 international scholarships for doctoral and post-doctoral students.
The Dan David Prize award ceremony took place yesterday at Tel Aviv University, in the presence of Prof. Joseph Klafter, President of Tel Aviv University and Chairman of the Dan David Prize Board, Prof. Ruth Arnon, President of the Israel Academy of Sciences, members of the David family, the 2012 Dan David Prize laureates, foreign ambassadors, and prominent academic and business figures from Israel and abroad.
Kentridge has also announced the young artist he will be mentoring as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. He has paired up with Mateo López, a Colombian artist who also uses drawing as his main medium. López will receive a grant of 25,000 Swiss francs at the beginning of the project and Kentridge will mentor him for a year.
The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, which pairs superstar artists with fledging and promising young counterparts as part of a yearlong mentoring program, announced that South African artist William Kentridge has tapped Mateo López, a Colombian artist as his protégé for the 2012-13 stretch of the program.
Acclaimed South African artist, William Kentridge, known for his dramatic charcoal drawings and work in film and theatre, has received and honorary degree from the University of London in recognition of his contribution to art.
His father, Sir Sydney Kentridge, a member of Nelson Mandela’s legal team, received the same acknowledgement in 1995, making this the first time in 175 years that two generations of the same family have received the University’s accolade.
In his acceptance speech, Kentridge said he was “delighted” to join the list of distinguished graduands, which includes his daughter who graduated from the University last year:
South African artist William Kentridge, known for his innovative use of charcoal drawing, animation, film and theatre, received an honorary degree from the University of London on Wednesday 30 November in recognition of his contribution to art.
He follows his father Sir Sydney Kentridge, a member of Nelson Mandela’s legal team, who received the same accolade in 1995. This is the first time two generations of the same family have received this honour in the University’s 175 year history.
According to Elle magazine, our very own Marlene Dumas has been awarded the Rolf Schock Prize in the Visual Arts in Stockholm, valued at 500 000 kronor (roughly R600 000). According to the press release (see below), Dumas was awarded the prize for her “unique ability to depict human vulnerability and greatness”:
Amsterdam-based artist Marlene Dumas (who was born in South Africa, so we can claim her) has accomplished much: her paintings has been shown at top galleries such as the Tate in London, the New York Museum of Modern Art as well as the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and sells for millions. Her paintings are edgy and focus on the relation between art and female beauty, art and pornography, and female fashion models and models who sit for artists.
Marlene Dumas is being awarded the Rolf Schock Prize in the Visual Arts for “her unique ability to depict human vulnerability and greatness, in painted works that do not shrink from showing adversity. With empathy and critical discernment, she brings issues of race, ethnocentrism, gender and sexuality to the fore”. Marlene Dumas was born in South Africa and is now resident in Holland. She made her debut as an artist in 1977 and now has an extensive exhibition track record, with venues including the Tate Gallery in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Venice Biennale and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Measuring Your Own Grave by Lisa Gabrielle Mark, Cornelia Butler, Richard Shiff and Matthew Monahan, edited by Lisa Gabrielle Mark Book homepage
EAN: 9781933751085
Marlene Dumas by Dominic van den Boogerd, Barbara Bloom and Mariuccia Casadio Book homepage
EAN: 0714838233
Photographer Zanele Muholi’s documentary film Difficult Love has won the 2011 Audience Award for best short film at the Africa in the Picture (AITP) film festival. Muholi takes home the 500-Euro prize along with co-director Peter Goldsmid. Difficult Love documents the lives of black lesbians living in South Africa.
The Audience awards 2011 for the best short film of the AITP filmfestival 2011 in Amsterdam went to: Documentary Difficult Love directed by Zanele Muholi + Peter Goldsmid (South Africa). With the prize comes 500 euro. Congratulations!!! to queer photographer and visual activist Zanele Muholi, South Africa and to director/producer Peter Goldsmid.
Zanele Muholi: Faces and Phases by Zanele Muholi, edited by Michael Stevenson, Federica Angelucci Buy the book from David Krut Publishing
EAN: 9783791344959
Yesterday photographer Pieter Hugo and Michael Cleary won a Young Director Award at a ceremony held at the Palais Stephanie in Cannes . They were awarded first prize in the “Non-European category” (my but that’s an unfortunate term, in the SA context) for their work on Spoek Mathambo’s music video, “Control”, a remake of Joy Division’s classic, “She’s Lost Control”. The video was shot on location in Langa, Cape Town. Books LIVE member Lauren Beukes was among those who shared the news via Twitter:
Read more about “Control”, the “darkwave township house cover” that “explores the world of township cults, street preaches and teen gangs”:
Control, fourth video from Spoek Mathambo’s debut album Mshini Wam, is a darkwave township house cover of the Joy Division classic ‘She’s Lost Control’. For the music video, Spoek has collaborated with one of South Africa’s most celebrated photographers, Pieter Hugo & cinematographer Michael Cleary. It explores the world of township cults, street preaches and teen gangs and was shot on location in a squatted train boarding house in Langa, Cape Town. The cast is mainly made up of the neighborhood kids who run their own dance troop, Happy Feet.
The Handspring Puppet Company‘s Broadway production of War Horse scooped up top honours at the Tony Awards in New York on Sunday, taking home the prize for best play. Earlier this year, the company, which is headed by Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, won a special Tony Award for “outstanding artistry”.
The National Theatre’s Broadway production of War Horse has won the best play prize at the Tony Awards in New York.
The award was one of five Tonys for the acclaimed puppet-based staging of the popular first world war story, adapted for stage by Nick Stafford. Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris were awarded the best director prize.
“The Book of Mormon,” a smash-hit Broadway musical made out of the unlikeliest of elements — unwavering faith, jokes about AIDS and lyrics so profane that many of its songs could not be televised — emerged as the runaway winner at the Tony Awards on Sunday. Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone of “South Park” fame, along with the composer Robert Lopez, “Mormon” earned nine Tonys, including best musical and three more for Mr. Parker, making this Broadway newcomer as honored in one evening as Joshua Logan, the director and a writer and producer of the classic musical “South Pacific.”
Yesterday, the Handspring Puppet Company was awarded a special Tony Award for “their outstanding creative artistry” for their play War Horse, which is also nominated for Best Play. War Horse, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo about the horses on the battlefields of World War I, comes to life under the direction of Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones who have worked together for over 30 years as part of the Handspring Puppet Company.
Said Jones of the win, “It was wonderful to be able to announce it on the factory floor.”
The South Africans who put horses on a New York stage have received special Tony recognition.
Cape Town’s 30-year-old Handspring Puppet Company, which created the life-size and lifelike horse puppets for War Horse, was named a special Tony award winner on Tuesday. War Horse also received a best play nomination.
Basil Jones, a Handspring co-founder, says: “It was wonderful to be able to announce it on the factory floor.”
Cape Town’s Handspring Puppet Company, which was established in 1981, will receive a Special Tony Award A Special Tony Award “for their outstanding creative artistry in the Best Play-nominated War Horse,” a statement on the Tony’s website.
“Their creations include the galloping, charging horses on the stage – life-size puppets strong enough for men to ride, their flanks, hides, and sinews built of steel, leather, and aircraft cables.”
The Design Indaba website features some exquisite photographs of the design duo’s amazing creations as well a video of Kohler and Jones speaking at the Design Indaba conference held earlier this year:
South African photographer Guy Tillim – well-known for his work both in SA and, more recently, in other parts of Africa – has been shortlisted for the Prix Pictet, one of the world’s top photography prizes. The winner, announced next March in Paris, will receive a 100 000 Swiss franc prize. The Pictet focuses on the the issue of sustainability; the theme of this year’s selected works is “Growth”.
“These images are a celebration and a reminder of the urgent need to change our ways,” writes Kofi Annan, honorary Prix president:
The Prix Pictet, one of the world’s leading photography prizes, has just disclosed the shortlist for its third edition. Christian Als, Edward Burtynsky, Stéphane Couturier, Mitch Epstein, Chris Jordan, Yeondoo Jung, Vera Lutter, Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo, Taryn Simon, Thomas Struth, Guy Tillim, and Michael Wolf are the twelve photographers chosen from the 450-plus nominees selected by the Prix’s international network. The winner of the 100,000 Swiss franc prize will be announced in Paris next March.
From its launch in 2008, the Prix Pictet has had a unique focus for an art prize: sustainability. The promotion of visual art and of ecological awareness are its two equally important goals. “These images are a celebration and a reminder of the urgent need to change our ways,” wrote honorary Prix president Kofi Annan in one of the prize’s exhibition catalogues. With a different ecologically-inspired theme each year, the Prix Pictet began with a “Water” focus in its first edition and celebrated “Earth” in its second. This year’s edition considers “Growth” — an issue described by the organisers as “one of the great conundrums facing humanity in the early decades of the twenty-first century.”
A stalwart of South African art, William Kentridge, has been awarded Japan’s Keyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy. Kentridge will receive the prize for his contributions to the betterment of society during an award ceremony in November 2010.
The South African visual artist William Kentridge will receive Japan’s Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy, the Inamori Foundation announced on Friday. The foundation, in Kyoto, Japan, honors individuals who have made “significant contributions to the betterment of society.”
Handspring Puppet Company is the first full-length book on Handspring published in South Africa. It explores their work in adult puppet theatre, from Episodes of an Easter Rising (1985) to War Horse, providing insights into their philosophy of puppetry and their technical innovations. It is richly illustrated with images from the Handspring archive and includes essays by theatre practitioners and writers who have collaborated with the company over the years.
Come see the book and other publications at the David Krut Projects stand at the Design Indaba, this 26 -28 February at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. We’re at stand D6!
Book details
Handspring Puppet Company (softcover) edited by Jane Taylor Book homepage
EAN: 9780981432830
Handspring Puppet Company (hardcover) edited by Jane Taylor Book homepage
EAN: 9780981432854
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